happy new year!

Happy New Year!!!  Every year I choose a Word of the Year...a word (with its corresponding thought, definition, etc) to watch for, to focus on.  It is amazing how significant these "words" become as I live with them over the course of the year...and it is so much F-U-N to see them pop up...like a surprise...found treasure.  I highly recommend giving this "exercise" a try and see how it impacts your life.

My Word of the Year (WotY) for 2017 is SHINE.

I will now begin to incorporate this word and its various meanings and what I am discovering about this word FOR ME during the year into my journal pages.  This is the cover of a composition book that I altered.  I used an S dictionary page (S is for shine!) and then used my acrylics, a stencil, and cut the star...easy peasy...cheery and fun!

2017...I'm ready!!!

that was fun!

I've been teaching altered book basics this year, and so this has been my "playground."  This is one of the pages I have been playing with...

Combining my love of letters, collage,wash tape, fun edges, doodling...it is still in process since I know that I want to add clip art or a stamped image...I will update you as I finish it...

Too much fun!!!

a K, and a S

Finishing up November's journal...
the K page..K is for "Kneeling in gratitude for each and every"...
  Nov. 9th was my daughter's 18th birthday so I decided to journal 18 things I love about her...along with some collage bits...      

and the back...
  (dictionary scraps, gesso, Wild Honey Distress Ink, clip art, zig-zag tape, Broken China Distress Paint for texture)

and S is for "Small, and/or Significant gift given from His hand."
  (magazine pic that had great eyes...highlighted with a grunge-board frame painted with Broken China Distress Paint)

But I couldn't NOT :) -you know what I mean- include this quote that has been a huge help to me...PLUS the word of the year is SEE...and this quote is all about the eyes...looking...perspective...the way you see...

 
...and the last couple of  "pages"...tags...just for fun!

 

 I REALLY enjoyed this theme of giving thanks...and I now will carry these images and processing into December...mindfulness!  :)

Today, each day To Him, my Heavenly Father, Acknowledging, Appreciating, Naming, then Kneeling in gratitude for each and every Small and, or Significant gift given from His hand.

beginning

in the beginning...I collect all the "ephemera" that is inspiring to me at that moment...what a fun mess!

 

 This crumpled piece is actually a paper towel that I has used to blot and clean with...I loved the inky colors and saved it (I should probably be embarrassed by that but I'm not...sigh...).  Now I will use it for texture and to add a little character, to alter this book... :)

...kinda like what happens to us...colored, torn, wrinkled, used by our life experiences...AND in Him, we are altered into something beautiful, something new... 

 

...as I was doing this, I started thinking of icons...images that hold some significance for us...I know that I am drawn to certain images and will use them over and over again...things like keys, clocks, birds, butterflies, etc....and without putting more weight on this than it deserves, I still like to ponder why it is that I like these images...anyway, instead of using any of the things I initially pulled out, I chose these mini images by Tim Holtz, stamped, cut them out, glued them down...again, the "process" was fun and meditative.

I may add more journaling to this, maybe not...but I'm happy with it...the scrunched and wrinkled color in the bottom corner grounding the black and white "icons"...what are your personal "icons"?

what we see...

...or don't.

I am all about keeping my eyes open this year...SEEing God, His hand in my life...trying to be mindful to NOT miss a single thing that He has for me to see...all that said, lately I have been thinking alot about what we can't see.  Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped and the conviction of things NOT SEEN...hmmm...knowing that there are things going on that we cannot see...and trusting God with that, even resting in that...and so, I choose to hope, choose to trust, choose to rest in Him one day at a time, often minute by minute.

Something New

A new month holds so many possibilities, and this year one of those possibilities is a new journal. (I am doing a new one for each month.)  I chose this assortment of paper because it represents what is on the calendar for June...a family reunion and a wedding! Woohoo!  Here is a preview of some of the pages BEFORE I alter them...

I cut the 12x12 paper in half and then did a simple 3-hole book-binding stitch to the spine...easy peasy. :)
The makes pages that are 6x6.

 

This is the inside cover...you can see a bit of music composition paper that I reinforced the spine with.

 

 

 

Using patterned paper can pose a few challenges but one nice benefit is that the first layer is already done...kinda like having a full calendar to work with :) and then its exciting to SEE how the details and layers "play" out...doodles, clipart, collage, paint, ink, photos...oh the possibilities! I can't wait...maybe I should go get started :) 

What are you looking forward to in June?

I don't know about you but I don't do well when my routine is thrown out the window. :) And this was a week of "interruptions"...as the week wore on and I was feeling more and more "squeezed", I was reminded that I am still "in process"...I don't like that my flesh STILL wants its own way...I want to be done with THAT struggle...(life has enough trials of its own, after all). BUT GOD reminded me that I have been altered AND am being altered into His image...PROCESS!  And so, I am resting in Him, cooperating with Him as He works in me.  And as Easter approaches, I am remembering Him...what His life was about as He approached the cross...and I am encouraged. 

Here I am!

Welcome!
I am so glad you are here.  Starting this blog has been a long process.  God has prepared and very gently nudged me along until I realized that this was something that I HAD TO DO...and I am so excited!  When you visit here, you will find lots and lots going on:- lots of art, especially art journaling...what I am creating...what I am learning...what I am reading...questions I am pondering...things I am processing...aaah...the glorious mess...all mixed together and being altered by God.
 Grab a cup of coffee, and stop by anytime...let's journal,create, learn, read, ponder, process together!